On July 6 I made my fifth trip into Village M. Several New Life Mission pastors and I rode a bus down to the Ramu Valley and walked the 10 miles into the area. It is currently dry season here in Papua New Guinea and the river was barely at waist level, so we were able to carry our own bags across without assistance.
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| All of the river crossings were much lower this trip |
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| The river carried this tree downstream during rainy season and now it has been repurposed as a bridge of sorts. |
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| One of the bridges along our walk
We had sent word ahead of time that we were coming, but the message did not make it to Village M, therefore the villagers were a little surprised at our arrival. However, they were very welcoming to our team. It is dry season, which means that everyone’s gardens are dry and food is scarce. Because of this, most of the villagers had retreated further up into the mountains where they have other gardens that were still producing food. We had not prepared to go that far into the bush on this trip, so we stayed at Village M with those that were present. |
On the prior trip to Village M in May, we taught through the Old Testament. Our plan for this trip was to teach the life of Jesus, hoping to give an evangelistic call at the end of the teaching. However, since most of the villagers who had heard the earlier stories were at their other gardens, we were unable to follow that plan. We were able to share a few stories with those that were present.
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| Some of our pastors teaching stories to those present in Village M |
In the vacuum left by those who had retreated to higher elevations, another group of people from the Ramu Valley sought us out. We’ll refer to them as Village W. They have begged us to come and teach them, but since our trips into the bush are only a few days long we have focused on Village M, which is totally unchurched. Village W has a small church which has not been looked after by the denomination in any way, and most of the members know very little about the Bible. The people from this village came to Village M to hear Bible teaching, and on our last night of teaching we relocated to Village W lower in the Ramu Valley.
Even though they live very close to Village M, the people of Village W are very different. The Village M people are highlands people of Papua New Guinea while the Village W people are “nambis” or lowlands people of Papua New Guinea. Their cultures and traditions are very different.
On our entry into Village W they welcomed us with a traditional “singsing” followed by a skit. In the skit, one man was on a raised platform eating some “kaukau.” As he ate, pieces were falling to the ground below. He was playing the part of a big businessman from town. Below him on the ground another man was on all fours and barking like a dog. As the pieces of food fell, he ate those that he could catch. After this brief skit, a third man quoted Mark 7:28, “But she answered him, ‘Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.’”
On previous trips we had explained to them that our mission was to bring the gospel to those who do not have it, but they have been insistent that we come and teach them, and on this night they made their feelings about it crystal clear. They viewed themselves as the Samaritan dogs and those in Village M as those at the king’s table. This was heartbreaking to hear from Christian brothers and sisters.
That night we taught about what it means to believe, using the stories of Nicodemus and Jesus’ encounter in John 3, Jesus and the woman at the well, the parable of the sower, and Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. We talked about the necessity of the new birth and repentance through belief in Jesus Christ as the crucified and risen son of God. At least 200 people were present for our teaching in Village W. After the teaching we were able to show them the Jesus Film, God’s Story, and the Jesus Film for Children in Tok Pisin on our portable projector and screen. It was close to 2AM before they had enough. Some of the people went home for the night, but a sizable number slept outside on the ground to hear more the next morning as two of our pastors gave short devotions before we left.
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| Some of those in Village W watching the Jesus Film |
Pray for us and our continuing ministry in Village M. I plan to go back with a team of New Life Mission pastors at the end of August. We hope to story through the life of Jesus with the full community this time. Pray that God would allow that to happen. Also pray for us as we seek to best know how to minister to this community of barely churched Christians in Village W. The amount of time that we are able to spend in the bush is very short. Pray that a national pastor would be raised up out of our training program to go and live among the people of Villages M and W.
You can read our previous posts about Village M here.
Here are some more pictures from the trip:
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A comfortable place to nap?
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| Two fresh water eels that were caught at the same time |
Sanders Party of Five 